The Government Accountability Office tested the government’s Energy Star program with phony products and found it essentially to be a rubber stamp–except that only 15 of 20 products were accepted and two were rejected. I wish they’d explained the rejections in a little more detail.

Every time a libertarian stays in the closet, an angel gets its wings ripped off.

I would never make a political disagreement the cause of a quarrel with a friend. I think it’s silly to do that. But there is a tendency on the left—and I bet there are people here who know what I’m talking about—to think that if someone in any way disagrees with the left, it must be for the lowest possible reason, and that if you’ve found the lowest possible motive, you’ve found the right one. There’s this whole culture of: no one would leave us or quarrel with us if they weren’t a sellout. It’s actually a very sick mentality, and very widespread, and people who think like that or feel like that can dump me if they want, but that’s almost to as much as to say that they weren’t much of a friend.

This study purports to find that self-identified progressives and liberals are less “economically enlightened” as compared to conservatives and Libertarians. I believe the result is essentially correct because every day I read articles from progressives who advocate feel-good policy proposals without examining economic consequences or responding adequately to economic concerns. I regularly comment on this very phenomenon here on this blog. Unfortunately, this study is so biased and flawed that it will not convince anybody. The condescending title of this article alone will rightfully repel the very people who should receive the message most. See a rebuttal here and a forum discussion here. Read the rest of this entry »

Greece PM threatens lawsuit against United States investment banks for their “role” in the Greek government’s uncontrolled spending spree. Whatever. In other news, the threat made Democracy Now! headlines, sans, of course, any reference to Greece’s massive public debt–apparently 113% of GDP. Maybe they already did a show on it??

There has been an uneasy dearth of commentary from my favorite libertarian sources on the BP oil spill. Here is one of the best posts I’ve come across explaining what libertarianism could have done, and can still do, for the Gulf. Read the rest of this entry »

The fun part of being a libertarian is that you get to blame the government for all your problems. The hard part, and the part that drives people away from the ideology, is that you have to relinquish your sense of entitlement. No, you are not entitled as a matter of natural right to carry your luggage onto an airplane at no charge. The airlines are providing a service for you, and they have certain terms that you must either accept or reject. Who knows? The baggage charge might reward those who economize by reducing their overall ticket price…..